The Greek myth of Narcissus has proven to be fertile grounds for authors and artists throughout the ages. The idea of falling in love with your own reflection yet never being able to have it seems well represented in art as well as life. Society as a whole seems to promote the idea of beauty and maintaining the beauty that you have. The works that I will discuss below all have ties to the famous Greek myth. The character Dorian Gray from Oscar Wilde’s novel will be analyzed and the twist in his fate will be discussed. I will also talk about J.K. Rowling’s unique character Narcissa Malfoy and how her narcissistic tendencies seem to extend beyond her own self. I will talk about how she seems to have been raised to be narcissistic. Lastly I will speak of the figure of Narcissus from the famous painting. I will share my own interpretation of this painting.
Oscar Wilde’s novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is rooted in the Greek myth of Narcissus. The story documents Dorian Gray who starts off as an innocent child that is orphaned when his mother dies at childbirth and father dies during a duel. Over the course of the story Dorian Gray becomes more and more narcissistic. Dorian first begins his fall from innocence when he meets Lord Henry. He is naïve and ignorant to his good looks and personality until Lord Henry reveals it to him. Not only that, Dorian is convinced that his good looks are his most important virtue in life. While having his portrait drawn the idea of youth and nothing else dawns upon him. Upon seeing his finished portrait the full extent of his wonderful good looks falls upon him. He realizes that while he will grow old and horrid, the picture will remain the same. The main idea of the novel stems from this concept. The evil deeds Dorian commits will be reflected in the painting while he will not change. He is able to appear young and attractive in public, the painting meanwhile withers away. This allows Dorian to continually feed his hedonistic narcissistic needs. One night Dorian’s lover Sibyl Vane acts in a play and performs poorly. She was unable to give a convincing performance which required her to act out love for another in a Shakespeare play. Embarrassed Dorian breaks up with her and Sibyl later kills herself. The painting of Dorian then shows thinning hair and ugliness. This interesting idea of having the painting take real life effects while Dorian is unchanged is quite the opposite of what is true to life. Compared to the Greek myth of Narcissus this is a heavy modification. Unlike Narcissus who is unable to consummate the love for himself, Dorian is able to live as the self he desires everyday. Eventually Dorian realizes the wrong of his ways later in the novel. When he attempts to tear the canvas with a knife it is actually he who falls to the ground in his own blood. The portrait is then found showing Dorian looking magnificent while Dorian lays ugly and withered on the ground. This is a return to normalcy. Changing places with how things were shows that in the end Dorian was correct to say that the beautiful picture lives on while he would not. What I’ve found interesting about this story is how inflated self worth contrasts so well with the Greek myth of Narcissus. It seems as though humankind will forever be in search of a fountain of youth. Whether in the original myth this novel or even present time, people always seem fixated with the concept of staying young and beautiful. “The Picture of Dorian Gray” shows that there is no such thing as eternal youth as even Dorian has a return to reality.
J.K. Rowling’s extremely popular Harry Potter books feature many fascinating characters. A character with many narcissistic tendencies is Narcissa Malfoy. Narcissa was the youngest of three sisters. She was raised is such a way that she became extremely judgemental. Narcissa being pure in blood likely felt from an early age that she was superior to others. Uncharacteristic to the Black family that she was born to, she has blonde hair and is described as good-looking. After finishing her education at Hogwarts she marries Lucius Malfoy, a pure-blood family heir who is quite wealthy. Together they have a son Draco who Narcissa does whatever she can to protect. In the Goblet of Fire book Draco is turned into a ferret after trying to curse Harry. This followed Harry asking Narcissa if the less than pleased look on her face has to do with him. In the Half-Blood Prince book Narcissa asks Severus Snape to promise to protect her son. She does this thinking Lord Voldermort has sent Draco on a dangerous mission. Snape eventually agrees. We can see that in this interpretation of the Greek myth of Narcissus a self-inflated imaged has extended to one’s family. Narcissa and her family are pure-blood and she values them over all others. This differs from Narcissus who was only in love with the image of himself. We can see this is true when Narcissa is asking Snape to promise to protect him. Although she has been told by Voldemort not to speak of Draco’s mission she is disobedient. Her love of her son outweighs the order that she has been given. One can speculate that Narcissa’s need to feel superior is directly caused by the Voldemort people or at least in correlation. Feeding off her family as well as those she is loyal to likely makes her ideas feel of importance. What I’ve found quite different with Narcissa is that is seems as though she was destined to feel inflated self worth. Coming from a pure-blood family and surrounding herself with like minded people likely attributed in the direction she took in life.
The figure of Narcissus comes from a famous painting by Italian painter Caravaggio. Although some dispute whether or not the painting was in fact drawn by him most scholars accept documents pointing to this as a fact. Regardless of the painter the painting is without a doubt related to the myth of Narcissus. The oil on canvas painting depicts a man gazing down at his own reflection. He appears in love and in awe of his own reflection which he sees. His attention is only at what he sees and one can speculate that his mind is locked and fixated on this. The painting shows the reflection in a bound circle that is filled with darkness. All one can see in the reflection is the man and the darkness. This builds upon the idea of the inflated self. The man cannot notice the other things around him, he only notices himself. An idea that strikes me looking at this picture is the concept of being alone. Although being in love with himself it seems quite sad that nobody else is around. What good is being the most beautiful person in the world if only you get to enjoy it? That is why I believe the painting represents a sort of sadness and emptiness. Perhaps deep down the man wishes that he was not so appealing to himself so that he could do something else with his life. This painting is currently held in the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica in Rome. Knowing about the Greek myth of Narcissus and how the idea has passed down throughout the ages makes this quite an appealing painting to me. One day I hope to view this painting that dates back to the 1500’s.
The stories and picture that I’ve looked at all relate to the Greek myth of Narcissus. The idea of inflated self worth has made it’s way into many artistic works Whether it be Dorian Gray or the man depicted in the famous painting it is clear what can happen when someone is only fixated on themselves. I believe these works mirror part of what society has been and will continue to be in the future. I expect contemporary works to continually be grounded in the original Greek myth.